Fugitive for 4 years, man flags down deputy for ride, gets arrested

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Jansen Simon, a fugitive since 2013, allegedly tried to hail a ride from a Louisiana deputy and was quickly arrested. (Courtesy: Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office)

RACELAND, La. – A fugitive who had been evading capture since 2013 was arrested over the weekend after he flagged down a Louisiana deputy for a ride, according to WGNO-TV.

Police had been looking for 30-year-old Jansen Simon since he allegedly struck another man in the head with a hammer during a bar fight in Cut Off, Louisiana on August 3, 2013, according to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office.

In addition to the arrest warrant stemming from that incident, two additional contempt of court warrants from the same time period were also active when Simon flagged down a deputy in a marked police car in the early morning hours of July 16, according to the LPSO.

Simon was walking alongside Highway 182 in Raceland when he stopped the deputy, who was off duty and heading home. Simon told the officer he was travelling with friends when they left him by the side of the road, according to the sheriff’s department.

The officer verified Simon’s identity, as is protocol with any stranded person deputies offer a ride to, and promptly arrested him.

“It’s not clear whether he knew he was flagging down a deputy,” said LPSO Public Information Officer Brennan Matherne. “Although it was a fully marked patrol car, it was also 1:30 in the morning.”

Simon was booked into the Lafourche Parish Detention Center in Thibodaux where he was booked for one count of aggravated second-degree battery and two counts of contempt of court, according to the LPSO.